1942 SB Heavy 10: What Kind of Cabinet Is This?

[Shootymacshootface]

But, will it cut?

 

[SLK001]

I wonder what the reasons were for a wooden bench for it. It was also ordered with a single phase motor - something I hadn't seen before for a military lathe of 10" and above.

 

[karlsangree]

But, will it cut?

Absolutely. I had to rebuild the drive assembly first. It was caked with hardened grease/swarth and the felt wicks were petrified so badly that the chuck would barely turn with the lead screw engaged. I also had to completely rewire it. The previous owner's son had cut the wires from the reversing switch to the motor to separate the lathe from the bench. However, after the cleaning and rewire, it makes beautiful chips. Once I get my kicks with it, I plan on doing a full restoration.

 

[Shootymacshootface]

Very nice! I'm sure that you could make that bench it's on into something special.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

very cool, lovely lines. Only 79 years old? Sounds like a spring chicken then, mine's coming up on 100

 

[gunsmither]

Great looking photo's, thanks. I "assumed" it was home made too; my bad! Congrats on a neat piece of history karlsangree!

I have a 10L, single lever gear box type with the semi-circular, bent tubing feet. With that style cabinet, it was listed as a "collet lathe"
I believe. I've owned it since 1976. The fellow I purchased it from lived in Chicago, and he told me he bought it new in 1950, but I think
he may have been mistaken, as I don't think that single lever gear box model was made still after WWII, but I may be wrong.

 

[karlsangree]

Great looking photo's, thanks. I "assumed" it was home made too; my bad! Congrats on a neat piece of history karlsangree!

Thanks!

I first got an inkling of when mine was made by going to the "Manufacturers Index - South Bend Lathe Works" of the Vintage Machinery site. I found the closest serial numbers before and after mine and they were both listed as 1942 lathes. I then shelled out the $25 for a PDF of the original sales receipt from Grizzly and confirmed it was a '42 but also discovered that the maple cabinet was a factory supplied piece.

 

[SLK001]

I have a 10L, single lever gear box type with the semi-circular, bent tubing feet. With that style cabinet, it was listed as a "collet lathe"
I believe. I've owned it since 1976. The fellow I purchased it from lived in Chicago, and he told me he bought it new in 1950, but I think
he may have been mistaken, as I don't think that single lever gear box model was made still after WWII, but I may be wrong.

I believe that 1952 was the year that SB went to the double tumbler gear box for their larger lathes. The 9" came out with a double tumbler gear box in the late 1930's when the new Workshop series was introduced. I also believe that the wide range double tumbler gear box for the 10L came out in 1954.

 

[gunsmither]

I spoke to a guy at South Bend about 30 years ago when ordering a synthetic drive belt. So I asked him about the date of my machine. He looked
it up, and told me it was made in 1964! Needless to say he agreed that couldn't be right, but according to him, that's what their records showed for the serial number. I bought a new set of reversing gears a few years after that, and was told it was made sometime in the 60's by another guy
in the parts dept., per the serial number. This fellow said that they had a fire at sometime, and all their records got ruined. Who knows?

 

[karlsangree]

Grizzly Industrial has a service where they will supply you with the information about your South Bend lathe based on the serial number. It costs $25 and it took them about 3 days to get mine. I'm not sure if every year is the same, but for my 1942 10L, they supplied me with a copy of the original sales slip.

Grizzly Serial Card for South Bend



EDIT: If you use this service, you'll get a weird message when checking out about the product being backordered or something like that. Not sure why you get that other than the process does take about 2-3 days.